Managing transcoding resources in content delivery systems

Abstract

A content delivery service that facilitates the selection of virtual machine instances utilized to implement the transcoding function. A management service first implements a test channel configuration routine that selects worst case scenario configurations for implementing the transcoding function and measures performance metrics for different virtual machine instances implementing the transcoding function. The management system can then match incoming requests for video channel transcoding with signature data from the test channel configurations to identify which virtual machine instances can implement the requested transcoding functionality.

1 . A computer-implemented method to manage content-aware processing of encoded content comprising:
 obtaining a channel request corresponding to a request to implement transcoding functionality for incoming encoded content from a content provider;   generating a signature associated with the channel request to implement content-aware transcoding functionality for the incoming encoded content from the content provider, wherein the signature associated with the channel request corresponds to one or more attributes of the incoming encoded content;   determining that the signature associated with the channel request matches a signature associated with an identified test channel configuration from a set of test channel configurations, wherein each individual test channel configuration of the set of test channel configurations identifies one or more computing devices for implementing the content-aware transcoding functionality;   identifying a computing device for implementing the channel request, the identified computing device associated with the identified test channel configuration; and   causing execution of the request to implement content-aware transcoding functionality for the incoming encoded content on the identified computing device.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the computing device comprises selecting the computing device from a plurality of candidate computing devices individually associated with the signature. 
     
     
         3 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the computing device is associated with the signature based at least in part on a determination that a performance metric obtained from the computing device during implementation of transcoding functionality according to the identified test channel configuration satisfies a threshold. 
     
     
         4 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the computing device comprises a virtual computing device. 
     
     
         5 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the identified test channel configuration comprises a test channel with content having at least a portion of the one or more attributes. 
     
     
         6 . A system to manage content-aware processing of encoded content, the system comprising:
 a data store configured to store computer-executable instructions; and   a processor in communication with the data store, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to perform operations including:
 obtaining a request to implement content-aware transcoding functionality for incoming encoded content; 
 generating a signature associated with the request, wherein the signature corresponds to one or more attributes of the incoming encoded content; 
 determining that the signature associated with the request matches a signature associated with a first test channel configuration of a plurality of test channel configurations, wherein the first test channel configuration is associated with a set of computing devices for implementing the content-aware transcoding functionality; 
 selecting a first computing device from the set of computing devices associated with the first test channel configuration; and 
 causing the first computing device to implement the content-aware transcoding functionality for the incoming encoded content. 
   
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the data store is configured to store further computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to perform further operations including:
 obtaining one or more performance metrics associated with the first computing device implementing the content-aware transcoding functionality in accordance with the first test channel configuration; and   responsive to determining that individual performance metrics of the one or more performance metrics satisfy minimum performance thresholds, associating the first test channel configuration with the set of computing devices.   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein selecting the first computing device from the set of computing devices associated with the first test channel configuration is based at least in part on one or more of performance metrics, historical data regarding implementation of transcoding functionality, cost, or total number of instantiated virtual machine instances of a particular type. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein selecting the first computing device from the set of computing devices is based at least in part on a prioritization of the one or more computing devices. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the data store is configured to store further computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to perform further operations including prioritizing the set of computing devices. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the signature associated with the first test channel configuration comprises a primary signature. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the signature associated with the first test channel configuration comprises a first secondary signature corresponding to a first subset of the one or more attributes of the incoming encoded content and a second secondary signature corresponding to a second subset of the one or more attributes of the incoming encoded content. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the set of computing devices comprises a first subset of computing devices associated with the first secondary signature and a second subset of computing devices associated with the second secondary signature. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the set of computing devices includes a virtual machine instance. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the data store is configured to store further computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to instantiate the virtual machine instance. 
     
     
         16 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 generating a signature based at least in part on a request to implement transcoding functionality for incoming encoded content;   determining that the signature corresponds to a signature associated with a first test channel configuration of a plurality of test channel configurations, wherein the first test channel configuration is associated with a set of computing devices for implementing content-aware transcoding functionality; and   causing a first computing device of the set of computing devices to implement the transcoding functionality for the incoming encoded content.   
     
     
         17 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 16  wherein the first computing device comprises a computing device in the set of computing devices with a lowest quantity of a first computing resource. 
     
     
         18 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 16 , wherein the request to implement transcoding functionality for the incoming encoded content comprises a request to implement content-aware transcoding functionality, and wherein the content-aware transcoding functionality comprises transcoding functionality implemented by a computing device selected based at least in part on an attribute of the incoming encoded content. 
     
     
         19 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 16 , wherein each computing device in the set of computing devices meets or exceeds a base hardware or software configuration. 
     
     
         20 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 19 , wherein the base hardware or software configuration is associated with the signature.